Broadway 'Best Man' recoups: Play makes it into black just before closing

August 27, 2012|Gordon Cox | Variety

The Broadway production of Gore Vidal play "The Best Man" has recouped its $3.25 million capitalization costs just ahead of the end of its limited run, according to the show's producers.

Powered by a cast that includes several well-known thesps, "Best Man" has posted solid sales since it began perfs in March. Although it never became a megaselling hit alongside springtime coneptish "Death of a Salesman," "Best Man" consistently pulled in auds with stars that initially included James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, Candice Bergen, John Larroquette and Eric McCormack. John Stamos, Kristin Davis and Cybill Shepherd are currently appearing in the show.

The Broadway production, directed by Michael Wilson, also was in the news recently when playwright Vidal died July 31.

The Rialto run of the "The Best Man," about the the behind-the-scenes drama at a national political convention, was timed to precede the 2012 presidential election. Play was last on the Broadway in a 2000 run that also recouped, according to its producers.

The current incarnation of "Best Man," which ends its limited run Sept. 9, is produced by a team that includes Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Infinity Stages and Universal Pictures Stag Prods., among others. Next up at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater is the upcoming revival of "Glengarry Glen Ross," toplined by Al Pacino and Bobby Canavale and produced by some of the same producers as "Best Man."